YELLOW ENGINE CHECK LIGHT LIT ON E39 M5

[swight]

Hi, just been test driving a 2001 E39 M5 that is for sale, I notice that the yellow engine light was lit, was told it had been like that for ages! Car drove well, but not driven an M5 before so not easy to compare. What could be the reason for this? Any ideas? Thanks.

[Neil.D]

Hi mate. Firstly my advice to run away. Not just because of the light but the fact that whatever the fault is it has not been rectified expeditiously.

The EML light always needs investigationg. It can be something minor such as MAF sensors that could be £300 to £500, or it could be something fundamental such as VANOS failure. The fact that it drove 'well' would lead me to beleive it is the MAF sensors as these gradually and slowly deteroiate until they reach such a level that they trigger the light. Common failures such as cam position sensors often trip the car into limp mode which is of course noticeable. There are hundreds of possibilities but if the rest of the car is worth it I would insist on its investigation.

More importantly the lack of care and blase attitude would concern me.

Neil.D

Edited by Neil.D on Wednesday 30th September 19:30

[TheEnd]

Exactly as Neil says, the light on isn't a good starting point at all, but the fact it was ignored is terrible.

[falkster]

Yeah as said it could be something simple like a lambda sensor but pound to a penny the one you decide to buy will have some major engine failure.....you dont want to have a punt on a car that isn't 100% on the surface.....its bad enough finding things going wrong when you thought you've bought a good one!!

[swight]

The car has just past an MOT, last week in fact, the Guy says he has had issues with the MAFs before, but the garage couldnt clear the codes. The car is a Y reg 2001 with 96,000 miles on, in a strange colour, sort of purple metallic, has sat nav, leather, sunroof, he is wanting £9,500 for it. Am going back for a closer look and investigation. What do you think its worth with the fault as mentioned? Thanks again.

[TheEnd]

you'd really need to get the code read out first. the MOT would only check emmisions at idle, but you could have the vanos messing things up at other rpms.

you could always get a cheapo code reader, or ask a garage to check it out, and let the guy know you want to get it checked over first, kinda like the AA checks etc.

[Neil.D]

swight said:

The car has just past an MOT, last week in fact, the Guy says he has had issues with the MAFs before, but the garage couldnt clear the codes. The car is a Y reg 2001 with 96,000 miles on, in a strange colour, sort of purple metallic, has sat nav, leather, sunroof, he is wanting £9,500 for it. Am going back for a closer look and investigation. What do you think its worth with the fault as mentioned? Thanks again.

You cannot expect others to diagnose the fault as there are hundreds of possibilities.

An MOT means nothing and the fact that the garage could not clear the codes makes me think the seller is not being totally honest. Is this documented somewhere? It would seem there are other issues.

You will not establish anything further without having the codes read.

[Great Pretender]

Run. Run away now.

There are plenty of other M5's out there with the right colour/spec you are looking for.

£9,500 for a car of that mileage with potential issues is also rather cheeky.

[ArmaghMan]

Run away.Dont stop.
You can get a mint E39 for that kind of dough.
Why take one that you know has issues?